The Oddboxx

With the HD remake of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath out of the way, developer Just Add Water can put the finishing touches on its next Oddworld game: Munch's Oddysee HD. Yes, it's another HD remake for PS3 and Vita--but you can expect it in the not-too-distant future. The developer recently tweeted that we can expect it in Q2, or just a few months from now.

PC gamers who have been playing the Oddbox can expect the HD updates later this year as well. "Both [games] will come to PC," the developer reconfirmed.

In spite of being an Xbox launch exclusive, Microsoft apparently is not interested in having either of JAW's HD remakes on the Xbox 360. "Nothing is exclusive from Oddworld," the developer tweeted. "However MS do not want either game currently." The developer previously pointed to Xbox Live Arcade size limits as one of the restrictions preventing the game from receiving Microsoft's approval.

Once JAW is done wrapping up Munch's HD revival, it appears their next job is a return to the classic 2D gameplay of the original Oddworld games. Abe HD is "an Abe reboot in 2.5D," the developer tweeted. However, given the recent call for developers, it's likely that project is still far off.

The various Humble Bundles have gained attention for offering PC games to support charity and indie developers, but the idea is spreading. The Little Big Bunch now offers a pay-what-you-want set of five PC titles to benefit GamesAid, a UK children's charity. Distribution is being handled by GetGames.

The default amount starts at $10 with a 50/50 split between the charity and developers, but you can give as much as $100 or as little as free, if you're cheap. The site notes that there will be a small processing fee as well. You can grab the games for yourself on the Little Big Bunch site.

GamesAid primarily helps UK-based children's charities, with some support given to foreign charities for education, housing, health, and social welfare. It spreads the wealth among various small or mid-sized causes.

Today I feel like the Sisyphus of games blogging. “You believe you have completed your trial of posting about a pay what you want indie games bundle, mortal? You fool. For now you must immediately post about another one! Ahahahahahaha. Yes, there are worse circles of hell to be in, but I trust you’ll agree this one is slightly annoying.”>

Can you spot the bugs in this trailer for the HD remake of Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath for the PlayStation 3?

That's right, they're hanging out in the ammo slots for Stranger's critter-launching crossbow, one of the greatest first-person shooter weapons of all time. It shoots insects, chipmunks, small fuzzy ball creatures, and more, and it's never looked as good as it will once the game hits the PS3.

And when will that be? Redeveloper Just Add Water says they're in beta now, having completed updating all 83 characters in the game, tweaking the user interface, and overhauling most of the environmental textures and some of the geometry. They've even added some easter eggs and unlockable extras to sweeten the deal.

I love the original game like a fat kid loves ice cream (speaking from experience). With its stunning new look, Stranger's Wrath HD could be the most delicious bowl of ice cream ever, bugs and all.

The US game making legend blamed the Xbox exclusive's lack of sales on EA's failure to put enough money behind marketing.

"Stranger was a major achievement," Lanning told Eurogamer at the GameCityNights event in Nottingham.

"I'm thrilled EA did such a crappy job distributing it back in the day. It's a title that hasn't been exposed to the world.

"My personal feeling is Stranger was the best game we ever made.

"It was sabotaged. When you see a big game coming out, just ask what the marketing budget is. If you decide as a publisher not to give it a marketing budget, you decide its fate.

"As soon as we understood there was no marketing budget, we had zero expectations. We had zero incentive to build another game for them, either.

"Our story is not unique. This is common in the development community. Business decisions are made and the developer's faucet is turned off as a result.

"In the case of Stranger, it didn't perform because it wasn't exposed and it wasn't distributed and there wasn't the number of factors that go to what you need to have success on the shelf today as a boxed product."

Stranger is a bounty hunter who captures outlaws in order to collect bounties. The live ammunition system allows players to fire ammo made from living creatures.

UK developer Just Add Water is remaking the game for launch on PlayStation 3 this summer. An Xbox 360 version is currently the subject of discussion between Lanning, Just Add Water and Microsoft.

Lanning, with Just Add Water, has embarked on an Oddworld revitalisation in recent months, and given the go-ahead to the development of a number of Oddworld-related games.

"Abe on PSN sold hundreds of thousands of units last year," Lanning continued. "No marketing. No advertising. Just people telling their kids to play it, saying, 'I played this when I was a kid. I loved this game. I want you to play it here.'

"There's a whole new generation of people who are picking up on that. I see that's going to happen with Stranger, too. That's just a question of us making sure it's on the right platforms.

"On the digital distribution landscape, when that game is offered at a much lower price on the PlayStation 3, people will really enjoy it. It'll get this second wind of life, where it will be easily accessible and not governed by if Wal-Mart decided to stock it or not.

"Anyone who wants it can log on and get it. If you have a PSN account you'll be able to get it. That's a huge game changer."

EA declined to comment on Lanning's accusations when contacted by Eurogamer.

Just Add Water is yet to decide which Abe game to remake in high definition.

The choice is between Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus  both iconic PSOne platforming games.

But an outside bet is that JAW will create an entirely new Abe game.

Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning announced in January that Abe's Oddysee was set for a HD remake with JAW at the helm.

But a decision is yet to be made, JAW boss Stewart Gilray told Eurogamer at the GameCityNights event in Nottingham.

"We want to do something, at least Oddysee or Exoddus-based because we have the design for those games," he said. "We have all the original 3D models for those games. We've got all the models behind what was pre-rendered. All the animations. All the environment models.

"What we're coming up with, people are going to like. But we're still in pre-production. We haven't decided if we're going to go with a full Oddysee remake or if we'll take parts of Oddysee, parts of Exoddus and parts of new stuff. We'll see."

All that is decided at this stage is that JAW will create an Abe HD game, it will be 2.5D, and it will launch for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

A decision will be made in the summer, with production due to begin in August.

"If we do a brand new game it's going to be two years away. If we do a remake it's going to be a year away," Gilray revealed. If it is a remake JAW hopes it'll launch by next Christmas.

"If we do a remake we could use it as a test bed. It's all well and good the fans saying, we want another Abe game. But, will only the fans buy it, or will we introduce new fans to it? The reason for doing Oddysee is that we can appeal to kids who weren't playing games 13, 14 years ago when it first came out and introduce Oddworld to a new audience that way.

"The businessmen say that's the sensible way to go. The creative says, no! Let's do new!"

1997 platformer Abe's Oddysee introduced playable character Abe, a Mudokon slave working at the RuptureFarms meat processing factory on Oddworld. Abe's Exoddus followed in 1998, again on the PSOne. Both games enjoyed such critical and commercial success that Abe became something of a PlayStation mascot.

In March, RTS players the world over will divide. Some will take up blades and form regiments with great historical accuracy, walking into battle in some very pretty armour. Yes, Shogun 2 will be epic. Tremendous as it is, some will share my personal preference for close combat with giant hammers that crackle with energy. In space. Take a look at the above video of Dawn of War II: Retribution to see why war in the 41st Millennium is truly the war of real men! (and Orks. And Eldar and Tyranids - let's not be racist!)

If Rich's climb up the StarCraft II league ladder inspired you to climb to similar great heights, it's time to start looking at how the professionals do it. Take a look at Husky's video from this week where he gives a good overview of Terran and Zerg tactics on the Shakuras Plateau map.

But when it comes to impressive gaming feats this week, nothing manages to topple the astonishing achievement of engineering student Terry Garrett, who despite being blind, has managed to complete both Abe's Odyssey and Abe's Exodus. Catch his interview here, where you can also see how completely flawlessly he plays.

The big reveal this week was without a doubt the first footage of Skyrim. Whilst many have 'oohed' and 'aahed' over the dual-wielding combat and the stunning vistas, what took me aback most was just how ferocious Bethesda have made the dragons. With these mythical beats being the backbone to Skyrim's story, Bethesda can't afford to get them wrong. Thankfully, it looks like we could be seeing a new age of dragon technology here (exceptionally poor pun intended).

Staying with new gameplay reveals, some new creepy monster-filled footage from Bluehole Studio's MMO Tera have been released. Tera claims to be an action-orientated MMO, but there's little bloodshed to be seen in this latest clip. Still the monsters look ugly, and who doesn't want to beat down an ugly brute?

We finally got a look at some in-game footage from Battlefield 3 this week, and it looks glorious. Explosions, bullets, soldiers cowering for cover and some lovely lighting effects made this look like one hell of a ride. It's been commented that the trailer looks a little Call of Duty-ish, but with DICE confirming 64-players on PC and the return of jets and prone, this feels like it could be the purest Battlefield game for several years.

In the run up to it's March 22 release, Crysis 2 is pumping out the trailers, and here we have a new story-based video explaining the campaign from Prophet's point of view. Less explosive than previous trailers, here we are provided into an insight into the controversy behind the Nano-suit.

For those who like their action open-world and OTT, rejoice that Prototype 2 will involve swinging helicopters by the tail boom and smashing them into tiny pieces.

The highly-anticipated Minecraft documentary hit the web this week, and it a real must-watch for anyone with an interest in the game itself and indie development.

Finally - and on a slight aside note - here's a little something to make you proud of being a PC gamer, and not one of those Nintendo Wii lovers. Take a look at Ubisoft's latest stunning title for the system: We Dare. It's a 'sexy, quirky, party game that offers a large variety of hilarious, innovative and physical, sometimes kinky, challenges' apparently. It's also rated 12 by PEGI, so it's sexy fun for all the family!